Big Brother Watch’s comment on the use of digital evidence in sexual offence prosecutions

“Big Brother Watch welcomes the NPCC’s intervention and we share concerns that victims of sexual assault could be deterred from coming forward if irrelevant details about their personal life risk being aired in court. The collection of digital material should be restricted to the relevant evidence – the current handling of digital evidence in rape prosecutions risks putting victims’ private lives on trial. However, we caution against turning to artificial intelligence as the answer; the police should be better resourced to conduct this vital work”.